CITY BROKER ISN’T JUST HORSING AROUND WITH NEW POLO VENTURE
IT’S SET to be a good year for Daniel Fox-Davies, the jovial boss of City stockbroker Fox-Davies Capital.
Foxy, you see, is a bit of a dark horse when it comes to his extra-curricular hobbies – along with running his oil and gas-focused brokerage, he spends much of his free time flying jets and helicopters, and has also somehow managed to find the time to spearhead the latest development on the world polo scene, the Polo in the Park event at Hurlingham Park.
Last year saw Foxy launch his new baby amid the worst financial crisis in living memory, and though 24,000 people turned up to the three-day bonanza, the lack of corporate sponsorship cost our City veteran a rumoured £1m-plus out of his own pocket. Ouch.
This time round, however, it’s a different story – Foxy is due to break even at least, having already lined up Mint Partners as the headline sponsor for the event on 4-6 June. Veuve Clicquot is providing the all-important champagne, Harrods is laying on the cream teas and even sumptuous steak house Gaucho Grill is sponsoring the team from Argentina.
“This is a fantastic outlet for corporate hospitality in the City,” he gushes. “Every broker, asset manager, law firm and so on – we’re all selling relationships, and networking is the most important component of that.”
The Capitalist is getting positively tipsy just at the thought of all that fizz-fuelled fun in the sun. Roll on the summer…
HIGH FLIERS
The very best of British to a group of girls from the City who are planning a dare-devilish stunt in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
The campaign – which has given itself the snappy name of the “Breakthrough Booby Birds” (no, chaps, there are no nude calendars involved) – will see 20 women taking part in a tandem sky dive in May, for which they want to raise £500,000.
Those taking part include M&S director Kate Bostock, Deloitte’s Stacey Lax, fashion designer Amanda Wakeley and Zahira Jaser from Barclays Wealth – who assures me she’s not worried in the slightest.
“The fundraising is the tough part, not the event itself – surely you just jump?” she laughs. “Although come to think of it, I’m sure I’ll be telling you differently on the morning itself!”
Any girls out there who fancy supporting the event are invited to a “pink fashion tea” on 28 April to raise funds for the intrepid bunch. Contact zahira.jaser@barclayswealth.com for more details.
LEGAL FLUFF
Bizarre goings-on over at the Law Society, which appears to be attempting to shake off its austere image with a fresh approach to internet copywriting.
Over on the media section of the site, both head spinner Melissa Davis and junior Becky Kiernan are clutching fluffy canine friends in their corporate photos (“Outside work, Becky loves her dogs Minnie, Twinkle, Judy and Scooby, who live in Ireland,” gushes the latter’s biography. “She is involved with many animal rescue projects and is known to bring home strays, being a complete sucker for a wet nose and begging eyes…”)
As for the other two flunkeys, we learn that one is the “mince pie champion” of the Law Society communications team, while the other’s worst moment in PR was being dubbed “a disgusting, evil servant of the devil himself”.
Clearly the phones are ringing off the hook over at Chancery Lane.
BOND ISSUE
Someone really should think to brief senior ministers on the not-so-intricate intricacies of the economy before letting them loose in the House of Commons.
Yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions threw up a rather embarrassing gaffe from deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman, to whom shadow foreign secretary William Hague addressed a question about why the yields on UK debt suggest that investors already regard the country as sub AAA-rated.
At that, Harman – like Hague, standing in for her superior – stood up and launched into her reply with the words: “The value of sterling depends on a number of factors…”
“Bonds, bonds, bonds, bonds!” taunted the Tory benches, clearly delighted at the schoolgirl error.
EYE FOR TALENT
Banks are often known for their impressive collections of fine or modern art, with scuppered giant Lehman Brothers’ collection having already yielded over $2m (£1.32m) for creditors at auction.
But Deutsche Bank – which prides itself on supporting non-mainstream artists as part of its commitment to corporate social responsibility – has gone one further by naming its inaugural artist of the year.
Those with an eye for talent should check out contemporary African artist Wangechi Mutu, who was selected by the bank’s four-strong global art advisory council for its first ever award.
Certainly a name to watch closely in the future.